Hon’ble Union Education Minister, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Delivers Valedictory Address

Shri Dharmendra Pradhan launches Website, ‘Oorja Sangam’

Website to Serve as a “Single Stop” Portal for Research and Academic Programs on Energy, Climate and Sustainability in Country

New Delhi: A one-day workshop titled ‘Future Ready Energy Education: Opportunities and Challenges’ was organized at IIT Delhi today. Hon’ble Union Education Minister, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, delivered the valedictory address at the workshop for which the top 100 NIRF-ranked institutions were invited. Also, other institutions with an energy focus were invited to attend the workshop.

The Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India, has identified several emerging sectors of critical importance to the country for the future. Energy is one of those critical areas that is anticipated to have significant potential in future jobs throughout its value chain.

The Ministry created a National Task Force on the energy sector with IIT Delhi as the nodal institute, as it was felt to be essential to prioritise improving the knowledge and skills of the manpower in the coming years in the energy sector.

The task force is working on developing a comprehensive framework for education for the current needs of the energy sector, and the “energy transition”, as the world and India morph their energy mix to less dependence on fossil fuels and more focus on renewables. The work involves identifying gaps in current educational programs, assessing future skill requirements within the energy sector, and creating guidelines for educational programs at various levels, including upskilling and reskilling.

To further inform these efforts and understand the perspectives of leading academic institutions, a one-day workshop was organised on February 9, 2025.

Hon’ble Education Minister launched a website called “Oorja Sangam” (https://oorjasangam.iitd.ac.in/) today during the valedictory session. The website is to serve as a “single stop” portal for research and academic programs on energy, climate and sustainability in the country.

While delivering the valedictory address at the workshop, the chief guest, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Union Education Minister, stated that India is the third-largest energy consumer in the world, with only one-third of per-capita energy consumption. As the country marches towards achieving the net-zero commitment by 2070 while meeting the aspirations and energy needs of society, a smart strategy must be created that brings together academic knowledge with social good, he noted.

Shri Pradhan also said that he was sure this initiative is going to be the foundation of a longer journey to integrate energy education with the overall educational curriculum. He called upon IIT Delhi to contribute to creating a meaningful energy education curriculum for school students as well. Shri Pradhan also appreciated IIT Delhi for organising this workshop to create a future pathway for energy education.

Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Director, IIT Delhi, said, “A national task force was set up by the Ministry of Education to help identify a future-ready curriculum for the energy transition. We were delighted to brainstorm with the leading higher education institutions (the top 100 NIRF-ranked) to evolve a strategy for curriculum development, industry engagement, and integration of AI to make graduates future-ready to enable India to transition to a sustainable net-zero future.”

The workshop was designed as an evolving platform to explore the rapidly evolving landscape of energy education and foster crucial collaborations. It featured expert talks and industry panel discussions offering both local and global perspectives on energy education from academia and industry.

Participants also engaged in six breakout sessions to discuss and provide recommendations on key issues like curriculum, pedagogy, lab requirements, industry collaboration, and the role of emerging areas such as AI and the energy transition.

“The goal of the workshop was to collaboratively shape the next generation to lead us toward a sustainable energy future,” said Dr. Ashu Verma, Professor at the Energy Science and Engineering Dept., IIT Delhi, and the IIT Delhi Coordinator for the Task Force on Energy.  

The institutions that participated in the workshop include IITs, NITs, central universities, and private engineering institutes.

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